Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-09-30

The Wan Target ana the iseaefis Dc-
rived at Rock E-tand Arsenal shere-
from---New and ssiG Modes.
DO you know that The man>targeis
supplied the army posts from this Island
are creating a total change in methodist
said an army officer 10 a Davenport
Democrat Gazette scribe yesterday.
The scribe replied that he didn't see
how the old system of tactics and dril
was of any use nj ali in these days of im>
proved firearms. During The war Of the
rebellion when we had muzzle- leaders,
which could be fired only once or twice a
minute, skirmIsh line could do some>
thing towards ascertaining the where's
abouts and the force of the enemy; but
now, with muSkrts that can fire thirty
times a minute-no use of ramrod, biting
the ends OF cartridges, putting on cap,
none of the old movements skirmish
line can be annihiated before it gets
within n half mile of The enemy. with
rifles alone. to say nothing of The use of
Ga,lin guns and dynamite rcckels.
Yes. but everything i, changed re-
piled the officer; There is no arlstncrucy
of rank ia rife practice in the army nov
a days. \ private has all the privileges
with he same rifles and under precisely
the same conditions On The n9i. they
are On the sam" footing. except tia tine
officer is supposed t. he the better rife
man by reason of his superior intelligence
and training. lie is Supposed To be able
to instruct the men in every particular
This is generally regarded as wise, al
though there are some opponents of the
system, among whom is Gen. Miles"
Ten years ago the only knowledge the
United States had of shooting WAS
gained in the firing of the regulation
three volleys over dead comrades crave.
1t was also required that when man
came off guard duty he should discharge
his cartridge at target. Then came the
international rifle match at Creedmore,
at which such marvellous scores were
made. The government had The reali-
zation that the men carried guns to
shoot with, but that they could not
shoot with them II also discov-
cred that the national guard car
ried guns that they could shoot with. 1t
was about this tue that Gen u W
Wngate, theu rife inspector Of tine Ma
tional Guard OF New York. wrote a
manual of Rife Firing, which became
an authority among the National Guard
Then the secretary Of war instructed Col
T. I. j. Lardev. of the ordnance departs
nent, to prepare n manual which would
be a text book in the United States army:
this served cxcelently well FOR few
years, and then IN 1884 Capt. Staahope
F.. Blunt, inspector OF rifle. practice at
headuuarters OF The arms, was ordered to
prepare manual The book was writ
ten under the direction OF Gen Terry
This mammal WAS adopted as authority.
and with revi-inns Is still the text book in
the army.
In til" army We use the oval target
or man target because it So closely res
sembles the fern OF a man. and which is
auppiied by tins arsenal. In most places
they cover it with prepared paper for the
reason that the bullet goes through 1t and
makes Il clean hole. Rifle practice with
| this tn rget has become IL craze in Ihe ar
my. From the start it was popular, and
its popularity has ste.dily increased.
Il can tell You another thing. 1t will
be the means OF great Improvement IN the
| efficiency of soldiers. 1t requires brains
to be good Titieman. Blind lnck will
not carry Il man through. lie must I'M
| no CON ho,,,,. ,,,,,..,,,t ,,,,,t tt,..,,, ,,l,